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Min has this viewing of Rand in Towers of Midnight:

Two dead men on the ground, surrounded by ranks and ranks of Trollocs.
Towers of Midnight, Chapter 13 - For What Has Been Wrought

What did this viewing represent in A Memory of Light? Who were the two dead men?

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I believe this is Lan and Demandred. Rand pays particular attention to them..

Rand stepped forward, hand stretched out. In his palm sat the world, and upon the world a continent, and upon that continent a battlefield, and upon that battlefield two bodies on the ground.

A Memory of Light, Chapter 39, Those Who Fight

Although it's not perfectly clear that they were the two bodies, I can't think of any others at that particular moment that they could be.

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  • That sounds likely, what chapter is that in?
    – NikolaiDante
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 16:22
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    It seems a bit questionable to say Rand brought Lan back to life... if you have more information on that, perhaps you could answer the question I linked?
    – Beofett
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 16:48
  • Perhaps Min's viewing thought that they were both dead, much like everyone who read it... I.e. that Rand would be shown two men and told they were dead, rather than dead dead. They looked Dead from Rand's perspective instead of being physically dead.
    – NikolaiDante
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 16:53
  • @Beofett That's a good point. I got the whole Resurrection vibe because at one moment Lan is down, and the next he's standing up with Demandred's head in his hand. Maybe he wasn't brought back to life, but he definitely seemed to be brought back from the brink to me. I'll reword at and see what future talks with Sanderson reveal.
    – Anthony
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 16:55
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    At the time, Lan and Demandred were surrounded by Sharans... were they also surrounded by Trollocs? I'll have to go back and look.
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 17:54
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One of the things that Sanderson has pointed out in his post-AMoL question and answer sessions is that not all of Min's viewing actually meant anything significant. For example, in his Tor books #TorChat on twitter he explained:

Not everything that Min foresaw was supposed to be significant in the series, according to Jordan’s notes.

Jordan deliberately played up elements, foreseeings, and prophecies in the series that he knew were going to be minor

This means that Min's viewing could literally represent any point during the Last Battle where two men were killed by Trollocs, of which there were dozens on-screen and probably thousand off-screen. Given the vagueness and total lack of identifying details in that viewing, it's unlikely that it refers to any specific key event.

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    It was a viewing of Rand at the same time as "Bloodstained rocks" and "A pipe with smoke curling from it." so perhaps it is specific.
    – NikolaiDante
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 16:22
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From what I understood, the two people Rand saw were indeed Lan and Demandred. It would make sense that it was those two, as Demandred had been demanding his attention for the entire battle and Rand was having a time scanning the battle and grieving / accepting the deaths of friends and loved ones.

When Lan came back up I initially had the gut reaction that Rand brought him back, but then that didn't seem right to the story (the can't heal death lesson from book 3). If you re-read carefully the end battle moves between Lan and Demandred, Lan takes a wound "on the side", making a reader who is caught up in the moment think that he is dead, but someone who is careful with his words could notice that room was left open for Lan to survive his sacrificial yet effective finishing move. [Think Aes Sedai talking carefully around truths].

Brief: Lan got hit in the side, and survived, Rand did not reincarnate Lan. just my thoughts. Great read, great ending, Thank you RJ and BS Dave

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